


Welcome to The Team

by Listentothelittlebird



Series: Code Bat [18]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Robin: Son of Batman (Comics), Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Jade is bad but she’s a good mom, Maya Ducard goes big sister, Not Canon Compliant, There are three assassin children in one room, “What if Lian was raised by Jade?”, ”What if Lian was also an assassin baby?”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27938292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Listentothelittlebird/pseuds/Listentothelittlebird
Summary: Lian Harper was done with the assassin life.She figured she might as well bring her new friend along for the ride.(This is all just characterisation. Enjoy!)
Relationships: Damian Wayne & Maya Ducard, Jon Lane Kent & Damian Wayne, Lian Harper & Roy Harper
Series: Code Bat [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964452
Comments: 34
Kudos: 448





	1. The Meeting

Of all the things Maya Ducard expected to become, a surrogate big sister to every kid-assassin she met was not on her list.

“Lian,” Maya sighed in exasperation, staring at the younger girl as she polished her sai. Thank goodness the redhead had a distaste for her mother’s poison. Otherwise, Maya would be infinitely more concerned about eating with her travel companion.

“What? I’m just getting them shiny,” Lian chirped, deceptively bright for a child with her - their - background. “I haven’t seen my Dad in, like, a year. Not that I see him very often, but well,” Lian shrugged, “That’s about to change, I guess.”

Maya turned her gaze out of their shabby hotel room, out towards the imposing building known as Titans tower. Lian’s father - Arsenal himself, holy crap - was expecting Lian. He was not expecting Maya.

Why had she agreed to come along, again?

“Hey, don’t make that face,” Lian jabbed the tip of the sai at her, and the only reason Maya was unfazed was because Lian was across the room, “You didn’t find your mom, boohoo. You have to move on. Find something to do with yourself, before Deathstroke decides he has time to bother about you.”

Maya shuddered at that. _Hell, no._ She was never going back to that life. “That’s what I thought,” Lian leant back, a satisfied gleam in her dark brown eyes. Lian was perceptive, and gosh, was she mildly terrifying. At least she seemed convicted about being a good guy.

“I can get my Dad to pull some strings for you, get you a place in that big HQ of theirs,” Lian jerked her head towards the window, “I’m sure they have enough space. Even if there isn’t, I’d be glad to let you bunk with me. And hey, if you find the superhero life all too much for you, we can hook you up with a fake civilian identity and send you on your way.”

Maya would hate to be a normal person - would hate to lead a normal, mundane life - after everything that she had gone through. There was a reason she had kept her Nobody costume. 

“Are you ready?” Maya asked, instead of acknowledging Lian’s words. 

“I’m just saying, you don’t have to worry about anything,” Lian huffed, even as she hid away her sais and slung her crossbow over her shoulder, “It’ll work out. The Teen Titans are good people - and I know my Mom is a biased source, but if even she can say that about a superhero group, that’s already saying something.”

~

Damian had fortunately been there for the conversation at dinner last weekend, and had context as to why Roy Harper was pacing nervously around the Teen Titans main room.

_“Dickie,” Todd had started, face carefully blank as he slid into his seat at the dining table, “Did you know Roy had a kid?”_

_Grayson had paused, blinked, and frowned, “Well, yes? Lian, right? I thought she lived with Jade.”_

_“Well yes, she did, and I’m not even gonna go into detail about how I feel letting that lady raise a child,” Todd flailed his arms, his brow pinched, “But apparently she’s not that bad of a person, because Roy told me Lian refused to become an assassin, and Jade accepted that. So now, she’s just letting Roy have custody of her, since she said she wants to fight crime instead. Like, what the heck?”_

_Grayson blinked again. “What the heck?” he agreed, “What’s going to happen?”_

_“Part of the agreement was something along the lines of letting Lian hang around other superhero kids her age, so I think Roy’s meeting her at Titans-“ that was when Todd stopped._

_He stopped, snapped his gaze towards Damian, and grinned._

_“Oh, shit. Baby Bat, I think you and Jon are getting a new teammate.”_

What followed immediately after was Father running through with him everything they knew about Jade Nguyen, the girl’s mother. Damian knew she was an assassin, that she went by Cheshire, and that she had no doubt crossed paths with the League of Assassins before.

_“From what I’ve heard,” Drake had chimed in, “Jade’s a really protective mother. I’d say this isn’t a trap, because I can really see Cheshire wanting the best for her kid. Either way, just be careful.”_

Kent, unfortunately, did not have the same access to gossip that Damian had, and was reasonably confused. The boy’s older brother was with them, and from the way he kept angling his ear towards where the entrance to the Tower was, Damian guessed he knew of the situation, as well.

“Why is everyone acting weird?” Kent whispered to Damian, as if his brother did not have super hearing. Damian shrugged back at him, “They all look like they’re waiting for something. That’s all I have gathered.”

Kent huffed, “Even I can see that, David. I was hoping you had heard something from somewhere, or whatever you do in your free time.” 

“Call me Canvas while I’m wearing my uniform,” Damian huffed, gesturing to his robes. His blank mask covered his full face, and Damian hoped it would be a while before the younger Harper would see him in civilian clothing. Even in a domino mask or sunglasses, his skin tone was a dead giveaway to his background.

Until he knew he could trust Lian Harper, Damian did not want her knowing he was an Al Ghul. That Maya and Suren had discovered the fact during their travels was unavoidable due to the circumstances, but he had already trusted them enough to be comfortable with them knowing.

Kon-El knew, only because he had agreed with Drake that it was better for the Titan to know. To have it revealed later on would break any tentative trust that Damian would form. The younger Kent would not understand the weight of the name, but Kon-El would. It was better that he knew now rather than later.

At least, to that end, it was easier to conceal his father’s side of the family as his civilian identity.

Kent, impatient as always, turned towards his older brother. “Is something happening, today?” Kent asked. The older Kent pursed his lips, met Harper’s eye, and nodded. 

“Yeah,” Kon-El replied, “We’re expecting someone. She’s Arsenal’s daughter - she’s about two years younger than you guys. Arsenal will introduce her properly, when she comes.”

The way that the older Kent spoke implied he had low hopes for her turning up. It was indeed a drastic decision, and Damian would not be surprised either if there was a last minute change to their plans.

“A girl around our age?” Kent asked dumbly, “And she’s coming here? Don’t tell me you’ve just been going around recruiting people.”

Kon-El smiled amusedly. “No, Jon,” he stated with a shake of his head, “This wasn’t a planned recruitment. Well, not that you were planned either, Canvas, but you get what I mean.”

“No offense taken, Kent.”

There was a distinct change in the room, a slight disturbance of the air that was only picked up through honed instinct and practice. Damian cast a slight glance towards the two supers, but they remained unperturbed. 

Damian considered the fact that Harper was raised by an assassin, and proceeded to fling a throwing knife where his gut directed him.

There was a sharp clink of metal colliding with metal, followed by an impressed whistle.

“Damn. Good on you for catching us out.”

Damian turned, meeting Lian Harper’s eye, her red hair tied back in a tight ponytail, smiling a cat-like grin with his throwing knife caught between a pair of sais. The only other visible weapon was the crossbow on her back. She promptly dropped the knife to the floor, pocketing her sai while easing her defensive stance.

“Hi, Dad!” Harper greeted cheerily, “Am I late?”

The older Harper was already crouching in front of her, wordlessly pulling the girl into his arms. “Oh… okay,” Harper laughed, her snark melting into something more fitting for her age, “It’s good to see you again, too.” She patted her father’s back, burying her face in his shoulder for only a moment before she started pushing at his chest. “Helloooo, can you let me go, now? You haven’t even introduced me to all your friends!”

Kon-El was regarding Harper with open caution, edging towards his brother’s side. Kent was still for the whole exchange, blinking confusedly at the girl as if seeing a ghost. “Why didn’t I hear her heartbeat?” Kent mumbled, looking to his brother for an answer. The older Kent remained stoic, but his protective stance was enough to say that he had not heard her, either.

“You said ‘us’,” Damian spoke, voice rumbling through his mask. He considered that this might not be the best of first impressions if he intended to make friends, but it paid to be careful. “Who else is with you?”

“Oh, Nobody,” Harper shrugged, wriggling free of her father’s hug with a smug smile and a twinkle in her eyes. Her eyes flitted across the room, searching for something. Someone.

Damian, before he could think better of it, straightened up. “Maya?” he called to the air. Harper’s flicker of surprise was all he needed as confirmation.

A body barrelled into him, but it was a familiar form, and Damian hugged her close. The Nobody armour blinked into visibility, coupled with a disbelieving laugh from the wearer.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Maya Ducard teased, “You really made good on your Canvas identity, eh?” 

“Speak for yourself,” Damian retorted, “The fact that you’re here means something, doesn’t it?”

They pulled away, and Damian noted Maya flicking several switches on her armour. “White noise,” Maya explained, jabbing a finger at the two Kents, “For super-hearing ears. Looks like it worked.”

“Who are you?” Roy Harper spoke sharply as he stood to his feet, only held back by his daughter’s placating hand on his arm. “I know her,” Harper stated, “I met her while I was still with Mom. She accompanied me here.”

“I’m looking for a place to… do good, in the simplest of terms,” Maya added, straightening and staring down the older Titan through her mask, “The original Nobody was an assassin for hire. Just because I’m his daughter doesn’t mean I want to be like him.”

Damian cast his eyes about the room. Here stood three young children raised to be assassins, all turning their backs on what they had been trained for. It was sad that there were so many of them - but they had each other, now. This was as good of a fresh start as anyone could get. 

The older Harper was silent for a moment, before he nodded slowly. “We’ll have to do a background check on you,” he stated, “And you’ll be given a place to stay in the tower, but you’ll be monitored for the first few days. I’m sorry, but we have to be careful about these things.”

“That’s alright,” Maya agreed easily, and removed her helmet to give a polite smile, “I’m Maya Ducard. Thank you for letting me stay.”

The older Kent breathed sharply, eyes darting quickly between Damian and Maya. He had definitely made the connection, from whatever Drake had told him.

“If it helps,” Damian blurted, because he wanted Maya to be accepted into this world, this community, “I know Maya from my travels. She has helped me several times in the past.”

Maya hummed along with a grin, turning to a curious Harper to add, “He was part of the reason I set out on my own. He helped me choose how I wanted to live.”

“The decision was all yours, Maya,” Damian huffed, “I simply showed you another perspective.”

Maya paused, then split into a wide grin. “So I’m Maya, now?” she pointed out, pleased with the change. Damian sighed heavily, and turned to face Harper. She was squinting at his robes, like she was trying to pinpoint his hidden weapons.

“I go by Canvas,” he stated, “I met the younger Superboy in New York, and was offered a chance to train with the Teen Titans. You are?”

“Lian Harper,” the girl stopped her brief assessment and dipped into a theatrical bow, smiling pleasantly, “That’s my Dad’s last name. Mom always insisted I used it, instead of Nguyen.” 

She was observing him for a reaction, eyes sharp and waiting. Damian remained still.

Harper frowned slightly, “Can I please have something else besides a codename?”

“David,” Damian replied tersely, inwardly relieved that he used a fake name for Canvas, “David Fletcher. Nice to meet you.”

Harper’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Damian knew that it was only a matter of time before she started to pry into his real name. Oh, well. He would just have to be ready.

“I’m Jon,” the boy was obviously confused by the mixture of familiarity and caution in the room, and he settled on an awkward wave from afar, “Ah, I’m the younger Superboy. Hi.”

Harper tilted her head at Kent with an amused smile and nod. “Okay, so you have Superman’s powers, I’m guessing. Maya has invisibility, but that’s her suit, not herself.” Lian’s gaze fell back on Damian, inquisitive and searching, “You?”

“I’m a skilled combatist,” Damian stated vaguely, “No powers.”

Harper hummed contemplatively. “ ‘Kay,” she smiled, albeit hesitantly, “Nice to meet you. Sorry for the interrogation, I guess. I’ve just never heard of you before, is all.”

“That’s fine,” Damian nodded, “I should warn you: I’m not very forthcoming with my personal life. Everything Maya knows about me was revealed based on necessity and trust.”

“That’s fine,” Harper parroted, “I have to be your friend before you let anything slip. I get that.”


	2. The Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lian and David have a quiet night on the tower’s rooftop. They each learn more about the other.

It’s been a month since Lian Harper’s life changed. A month since she stood and spoke up against her mother’s teachings. A month since she moved out to live with her father, with so little resistance she wondered whether her mother knew this was already a long time coming.

Some days were great. Maya was an incredible person, a good friend, willing to teach her how to be a normal person, in a way only someone who knew what she was going through, had been through the same things as her, could help. Her dad was a really awesome dad, even if he was new to taking care of a kid. Well, she was a tween, so she guessed that made his job a little easier.

There were her new friends, too. Jon was hesitant at first, but he kept making unintentionally goofy comments even while he radiated the most sheltered, innocent confusion almost all the time. She’s already had to bite down on her lip several times to keep herself from smiling at his expense. 

David was weird, but a nice weird - the kind of enigma that kept her on her toes, challenging her in a way that she did not expect to find among the Teen Titans.

Then there were the bad days.

She was on the rooftop of Titans tower. Her sais were glinting in the early daylight, even as she sharpened their tips with trained precision. The _shing_ of metal scraping metal was the only sound above the roaring wind and the crashing waves. 

It was barely daytime. It was, more accurately, 3am in the morning. The perfect time for being moody, if you asked her. 

There was a purposeful scrunch of gravel behind her. There was only one person who had to make noise so intentionally. He learnt his lesson when he had to dodge her sai, the last time he had materialised without warning.

“You’re up, too? Didn’t peg you for a night owl,” Lian quipped, lacking her usual chipper tone. There was silence for a moment, another scrape of her blade, before David replied, “I couldn’t sleep. I’m usually awake at this time, anyway.”

Lian hummed, and partially out of spite, she tossed one of her sai behind her. She heard nothing, which was how she confirmed that David had plucked it harmlessly out of the air.

“Since you’re out here,” she patted the ground next to her, her arm resting on the ledge of the roof as she looked out into the water, “You might as well help me sharpen my weapons.”

David sat down quietly beside her. Scraping was heard, then, and Lian was unsurprised that David had brought his own knife up with him. She knew little about the boy, but she knew enough that she could trust him with sharpening her sai in the way she preferred. 

“I’ve been told that it’s better to talk things out, rather than bottle them up quietly,” David commented, breaking the peaceful silence, “The Supers are asleep. The cameras on the roof do not record sound. If you’re ready, I’m here.”

Lian finally cast a glance at the boy. He was wearing a grey, faded hoodie. It was slightly oversized, the edge of one hoodie string fraying, and what looked like a coffee stain on one sleeve. Lian wondered who the jacket had come from. A kind person from his travels? Someone from his civilian life? 

The hood was pulled up, his blank mask secured over his face. The boy’s quiet paranoia had never bothered her - if anything, it was comforting to know that she was not the only one keeping one eye open, even in a place where everyone should be safe. Even when everyone should be trustable.

Lian pursed her lips, wondering just how a silent and deadly kid like this could still be thoughtful enough to offer this olive branch out to her, to find her up here instead of just avoiding approaching her.

“Maya may have been raised an assassin,” Lian started, “But she didn’t need to kill anyone. She hasn’t killed anyone. She has the ability, the skill, the stealth to do it, but she hasn’t.”

David gave a hum, an encouragement to continue.

Lian took a deep, fortifying breath, and stilled the shaking in her hands. She set her sai down.

“I’ve killed,” she stated bluntly, “I’ve killed in cold blood, I’ve done it out of spite and for missions. The last… the last person I killed was by poison.”

It was an accident. She had been angered by the person’s treatment of her, underestimating her for her youth. It was easy, too easy to slip something into the man’s drink. 

She had intended for him to fall ill, for her to come back to his office to find him retching inside his luxurious bathroom, in his mansion of a house. She was supposed to bypass security and crouch down beside him, the orange and beige version of her mother’s Cheshire mask doing all the grinning for her, while she crooned a sweet-sounding warning to _never doubt a child_.

The man had health complications. He was dead on her arrival.

He had never done anything wrong, not against herself, anyway. She had only killed targets or those who had personally offended her before. It was the first kill she regretted - and it felt like a slap to the face.

“It made me realise how dangerous I was. I was playing with fire, and I had no idea up until that moment.” One wrong misstep, and a person’s life was gone, just like that.

Lian looked down at her hands. Her fingernails were short, and she wore gloves when they trained. She would not use poison. Never again. 

David was silent behind her. She returned to sharpening her sai. There was a soft clink, the sai she had tossed to him set down lightly on the rooftop, then a click of a mask falling from his face.

“Forgive me for my secrecy,” the voice that spoke - finally without the drone of robotic alterations - was young, and now Lian could pick up on a distinctive accent from a country far away, the lilt of a specific organisation on his tongue. “You have to understand, what with my own background, that I didn’t know whether I could trust you.”

Lian turned and met the gaze of a green domino mask. Nevermind that the boy wore two masks - even in the dim light around them, his face looked enough like his mother’s that Lian was able to connect the dots right away.

“The blood on our hands is not our fault. It is not,” the heir to the Demon Head stated fiercely, “Not when we had no idea what was right or wrong. Not when all we had known was moral darkness and twisted ways.”

Lian had heard of this boy, from her mother. Had heard in passing of what had happened to him.

“The heir to the Al Ghuls is dead,” Lian monotoned. David paused, and nodded once.

“ _He_ is dead,” David confirmed, “But _I_ am alive.”

Lian sat there for a long moment, sat there and stared as the revelation of who David was and who he is now all came together. Then, she smiled.

“David isn’t your real name,” Lian had no idea what his real name was, but it was surely not that. David smirked - a small thing, but it was there. Perhaps she would finally start to learn his facial tics now, instead of just staring at his blank mask. 

“My real name still starts with D,” David offered, “Maya knows that. Jon does not.”

Lian grinned. “And now I know.”

“And now you know,” he agreed, and passed back her sai with a small toss. Lian admired the sharpened tip with a satisfied smile. 

“Well,” Lian kept away her blades, stood up and offered her hand, “It’s a bit early, but are you up for a spar?”

“Gladly,” David responded, accepting her hand, “But I won’t go easy on you.”

“By all means, don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D

**Author's Note:**

> Surprised? XD I bet you weren’t expecting this when I said “introduction”!
> 
> Second part is to give more background on this version of Lian... I based her personality on what I’ve seen of Cheshire in the Young Justice TV show, and I’m happy with the way it turned out!


End file.
